Something New
by openwindow4
Summary: Ino has impulsively begun a new self-improvement project - and forced it upon her three roommates as well. The challenge? To try something entirely new and risky for a week. The ensuing chaos gives way to new love... nejiten naruhina inogaa sasusakulee


"Dammit

"Dammit! I'm fucking tired of this shit!"

A startled Haruno Sakura looked up from an intense study of her Chemistry III notes on "The Causes and Effects of Chemical Equilibrium". A brown-haired head popped up as well, with an accompanying "ouch", as she whacked her head against the underside of her bed (she had been looking for the other soul-mate of her neon pink running shoes).

"A-Are you o-okay?" Hyuga Hinata, the quiet and introverted girl that made up the fourth member of the spacious dorm room rose from her seat by the window and politely closed the door that Ino had shoved open before returning to her seat.

"What is it now, Ino-pig?" Sakura shut her binder with a snap and laid it down on the brightly lit vanity table she was seated at. She rubbed her eyes tiredly – she'd been up all night studying for semester exams and with seven classes to juggle, this was no easy task.

"I'm bloody tired of acting the freaking stereotype! I mean, don't you all ever get tired of it?" Ino all but screamed at her companions. Tenten exchanged a long-suffering look with Sakura.

"What's happened now?" Tenten asked.

"I was just at the mall – ('when is she not?' Tenten muttered. Ino chose to ignore her.) – flipping through the racks when this random idiot starts hitting on me! When I tell him to back off, the bastard thinks I'm playing hard to get, and he runs his hand up my freaking thigh! So I twist his hand and kick him and start to walk out, but as I'm leaving, the guy goes something like 'yeah, well girls like you couldn't get anywhere without guys like me paying you' so I go 'Are you implying that I'm a slut?' and he goes, 'With a rack like yours, what else?' – (a muffled "that jackass!" came from under the bed where Tenten had returned to searching for her other shoe) – So then, I walk over, knee him in the guts and start beating him over the head with my purse, and then _I_ get kicked out of the store." The other girls stared at Ino.

"Ino, guys are _always_ making eyes at you. Just sue the guy for sexual harassment or something and win a million bucks. Then he'd _really_ be paying you. Seriously though, what a dipshit. If it'd been me, I'd have done more than beat him over the head – I'd probably have gotten a baseball bat or something." Sakura said.

"That's crappy and all and I agree with Sakura, I would've taken a bat to his head, but what does that have to do with storming in on us and stereotypes? Guys always act like asses 'round you Ino, you really shouldn't be surprised by now…Ah-HA!" Tenten stood up, victoriously holding up her other pink shoe.

"But that's the sad thing, isn't it?" Ino asked. "I shouldn't have to be used to taking that kind of crap from guys – after that incident, I got to thinking – sure everyone says they don't judge before they meet someone, but first appearances _have_ to count for something, right? That's why people dress up for job interviews, and when they meet their boyfriend, and stuff like that." Ino dropped her bags by the door and walked over to the bed and collapsed face first onto it she rolled onto her side and continued talking. "That's why appearances matter – we make judgments on people by how they carry themselves, what they wear, etcetera. And I understand this and all, but what I _really hate_ is that even after being proven wrong, people still want to believe in their first impressions! Like that jackass at the mall – I told him to back off – this either means that A), I don't like you and I'm going to beat the shit out of you if you touch me again or B), I don't like you and I have a giant boyfriend that's going to beat the shit out of you if you touch me again. In either case, I don't like you. But even after being rejected, he still thinks that I'm playing "hard-to-get"! It's like these people have this stupidity mechanism that refuses to be shut off! He assumes that just cause I have a "rack", as he put it so vulgarly, that he's free to touch me cause I won't mind, cause I should be "used to it." Ino ended her rant.

"So that's my story, and that's what's really set me off to thinking, aren't you all tired of acting the same way? And if we try to change ourselves, like if Tenten-chan is wearing a dress or something, we all go "Omigod! Tenten is wearing a dress!", and make a big deal out of it. Or if Hinata-chan says more than ten words a day, we all act like it's the end of the world. Sure, it's just joking, but it sort of makes it hard for us to change if all the rest of us are standing by the sidelines acting like it's way out of character to try new things, like it's a bad thing or something. We're so set in our own ways, it's like we've been permanently handicapped by what everyone else thinks of us. There's this giant wall that's keeping us from progress. I mean, just _look_ at us! We're such typical stereotypes of modern day girls that we could pretty much be the "cookie-cutters" of society's women. We have the traditional mortally shy and submissive housewife material there," Ino waved toward Hinata carelessly, "but I'd bet that no one would've even thought that a good girl like her listened to death-metal-punk-rock-screamo-whatever music. Then we've got Tenten-chan, who everyone thinks is a complete tomboy, but no one knows she loves shoujo manga and dressing-up." Tenten turned pink. Ino looked at her and grinned, "You don't seriously think that after living in the same dorm room for two and a half years that we _wouldn't_ know about that?"

Tenten shrugged, "I dunno…I thought I hid it pretty well…"

"You seriously thought that hiding it under your bed would work?"

"Hey! It was under my dirty laundry pile! And why were you under my bed anyway?"

"I lost a sock!"

"So the first place you look is under _my_ bed?"

"Whaaaat? You gotta admit, your bed has an uncanny knack for sucking random stuff under it…it's like a mini-black hole or something! And just for the record, I _did_ find it under your bed! But I digress. Where was I? Oh yeah, and then we have Forehead, the typical nerdy slash perfect overachieving girl who spends more time interacting with inanimate things like books and lab equipment than with actual people," Sakura looked highly offended, but didn't deny the truth in Ino's allegations. "She's what everyone views as the perfect girl, smart and pretty, but no one knows that you're mortally shy of attachment, especially to boys, and especially after your disastrous relationship with Sa – "

"_Drop it_, Ino." Sakura interrupted.

"Okay, okay! No need to get touchy about it…anyway, personally? I'm tired of being classified the 'blond bimbo' just because I like to shop and gossip and happen to be blond! If I had pink hair or any other color hair, I doubt they'd label me 'bimbo'! Nobody seems to care that I'm president of the debate team."

"Hate to break it to you Ino, but it's probably cause it's like the worst advertised club in school – plus, debate doesn't really win very many trophies." Sakura replied.

"Still – it doesn't mean that it's any less of an accomplishment – if someone asked me about it, them it could talk to them on hours about it, but all they think is 'oh, she's probably a cheerleader or something.' It just reinforces the stereotypes when we don't do anything about it!"

"S-So…what should we do Ino-san?"

Ino sat up with a grin. "I was hoping you'd ask that! You see, with me being so brilliant and all, ("Well, at least she has a healthy ego", Sakura muttered. Tenten and Hinata giggled.) I was struck by an epiphany. I propose that we each take this next week to get a little out of our depths, you know – take some risks, try something new, stuff like that! Like Hinata, instead of listening to your music and sipping tea, why don't you go out to meet some people at a music store and maybe try out some different music genres? Or something like that? You know what, I think that's perfect for you! In fact, we could head over to the store right now; there's this one guy I know there who's sort of obnoxious, but he's a good kid and he could show you around – you know, he's even in a band and I heard that they're rehearsals are going to be..."

As Ino babbled on and began to drag Hinata out the door, Sakura turned back to her Chemistry notes with an amused smile. 'I can already foresee that Ino's new project is going to yield some interesting results…'


End file.
